YOU ARE HERE: Central Kentucky Home→Collections→Smoking Ban

Letter: Smoking ban protects innocent non smokers

March 13, 2008

Dear Editor,

Do you consider a person's liberties or freedoms are being restricted or being discriminated against if they are not allowed to spread proven dangerous toxins in the air that harm innocent people when they breathe?

Apparently, Roger D. Bowman and some others think they are, according to his critical letter to the editor in The Advocate-Messenger last week opposing a ban on smoking in our public buildings.

I salute Roger Trent and our commissioners in their efforts to make our public buildings safer for our citizens. As a physician and coroner, I have seen too many people with lung cancer, heart problems and emphysema, which were provoked by exposure to tobacco smoke.

According to a recent report released by the University of Kentucky College of Public Health (http://news.UKY.edu/news), "there was a 97 percent decline in air pollution linked to second-hand smoke in Louisville businesses after the smoke-free ordinance was implemented.

"Exposure to second-hand smoke, which contains 250 known toxins, is the third leading cause of preventable deaths in the U.S." Thank you to Roger Trent and the commissioners for trying to prevent illnesses and premature deaths in Danville.

It is OK with me if Mr. Bowman and others want to smoke in an environment that doesn't expose other people to their toxic smoke.

This ban doesn't prevent them from smoking there. It just applies when they smoke in public places, offending and injuring innocent non-smokers.

James Ramey, M.D.Danville

|

|

|